Pay only R500 to park your car in an illegal spot
Residents have become accustomed to the parking marshals patrolling the city's streets and having to pay for parking, but now some of these marshals have allegedly taken the payment system into their own hands.
POLOKWANE – Residents have become accustomed to the parking marshals patrolling the city’s streets and having to pay for parking, but now some of these marshals have allegedly taken the payment system into their own hands.
Residents contacted Review and said parking marshals demanded a monthly fee to “reserve” parking spaces in the city’s CBD. Gerhard van der Linde, Johann du Plessis and Michael Monamela said they have complained to the Polokwane Municipality about this matter.
Review spoke to a parking marshal who preferred to stay anonymous, and he said some marshals misused their positions to coerce motorists to pay for permanent parking spaces. “Everybody wants parking close to their work places and if they have to pay for it, this is what they will do,” he said.
He said the marshals reserved the parking spaces that people had paid for by either putting dustbins in the spaces or packing empty boxes in the spaces and claiming that the boxes were just recently delivered.
The parking tariffs in the city was set at R3 for less than one hour and R5 for every hour after that in June 2012. Motorists who work in the CBD can spend between R800 and R1 000 on parking every month and that is where the parking marshals saw the gap.
For the lesser fee of R500, a motorist can “reserve” a parking space in the CBD by paying the parking marshal “off the books” said Ishmael Kassim, a shop owner in the Polokwane CBD. “These motorists are unaware that this is not allowed and they make use of this method to ensure their vehicles are safe. They are under the impression that the municipality sanctioned this payment to help people who have to park in town every day,” he said.
Municipal spokesperson, Matshidiso Mothapo said the parking tariffs in town had not changed since 2012.
Paul van Rooyen, manager of Servest Parking who manages the parking marshals, said marshals who offered reserved parking to motorists were breaking the law and were trying to steal the municipality’s money.
“There is no arrangement for marshals to change any set tarrifs in place,” he said.
He said people with information about parking marshals involved in this scheme can call Servest at 083 302 7949 or report the matter to the offices of Servest Parking on the corner of Rabie and Hans van Rensburg Street.
